The 4 main ingredients in beer & why they are important to us tasters

As you may know, beer is made up of malt, hops, yeast and water.  Some beers contain other ingredients like fruit, but these 4 need to be in every beer to make it the beverage we know and love today.  The water used to brew a beer can effect it dramatically and there are breweries that will not expand or allow their beer to be brewed in other areas because the water they use is so significant.  But, as beer tasters, the three key ingredients for us to find in our beers are hops, malt and yeast.  In this post I’m going to give you a brief introduction to each of these 3 key ingredients. 

Hops

Beer was not always made with hops, previously it was made with a mixture of herbs called Gruit.  Hops were added when their antiseptic and preservative qualities were discovered, making the beer last longer.  Then, the exploration of hop flavour began!  Hops add bitterness as well as a variety of fruity, floral or herbal flavours and aromas.  Brewers carefully select the variety of hop and decide when to add the hops in the brewing process to produce the results they want.

Malt

Malt generally refers to malted barley, or sometimes wheat, that is steeped in hot water to get fermentable sugars for the yeast to feed on.  The more fermentable sugars, the higher the alcohol content in the end product (generally).  Those malts also add colour and other flavours to the beer.  Malts are put into two categories – base malts and speciality malts.  A brewer selects from a wide range of these to produce their final ‘malt bill’ when brewing the beer you love.  The malt bill could consist of just one malt (a base malt) or a complex list of different malts (at least one base malt combined with speciality malts and/or more base malts) depending on the results, flavours and aromas they want to create.  Other grains can also be added to the brew, these are referred to as adjuncts and include oats, rye, sorghum, corn or rice.

Yeast

The yeast used to brew beers can generally be put into two different categories – Ale yeast or lager yeast.  Ale yeast works at a higher temperature and adds fruity or spicy notes.  Lager yeast likes cooler temperatures, tends to ferment ‘clean’ (so doesn’t add extra flavours or aromas) and takes longer to work.  Specific strains of yeast are sometimes used for specific styles – for example German wheat beer yeast used in weisse biers and hefeweizens produces banana and clove aromas and flavours.

As well as yeast, beer can be fermented with wild yeasts and bacteria to produce sour beers with interesting results!

I will be going into more detail about hops, malts and fermentation flavours in the coming weeks on the blog, so make sure you keep coming back to check it out!

If you would like to build up your knowledge of how these ingredients impact beer and how to describe the flavours and aromas you experience – I have a course for that!  Build Your Beer Vocabulary looks at each of these elements in beers and through sensory exercises with food that will train your palate to recognise these flavours and aromas, we will build your beer tasting knowledge and confidence.  Our January course starts next week on 11th January so sign up for Build Your Beer Vocabulary here